A couple of days ago I wrote about Health Care as an issue in the presidential campaign. In that post I wrote,
“…Giuliani wants to allow health insurance policies to be sold across state lines. “
Among all the proposals for reforming the health care system in
America, this proposal will likely have the most dramatic effect on the
way health insurance operates in this country. Currently, if you work
for a company in the same state where their insurance policy is
written, that policy has been approved by that state’s Department of
Insurance or some equivalent office. Each state has its own laws
governing how insurance plans can be marketed, what they must cover,
and the level of benefit. So if you work for a company based in New
York, your health insurance policy has been approved by the state
regulators in New York, and therefore, meets New York regulations for
insurance.
Giuliani’s proposal is to allow a group or individual residing in
New York to purchase an insurance policy that has been approved by any
state. Giuliani’s proposal effectively forces the state insurance
regulators and legislators to compete with each other. Can you imagine
the debate in the New York State Assembly over requirements for health
insurance if they have to consider the legislation that governs
policies approved by the state of Texas? Eventually, the states with
high regulatory requirements like New York and New Jersey will find
that more and more health insurance policies will be sold in their
state that skirt around their regulations.
What Giuliani is proposing is exactly the kind of proposal in which
the authors of the Constitution empowered Congress to do, promote the
unimpeded interstate trade of goods and services. Insurance is one of
the last remaining vestiges of interstate commerce controlled by the
states. Giuliani is right to propose this change. The marketplace
will move far more quickly to adapt to this new environment to make
products that consumers want and need than any legislation or
regulation that government can enact.
This posting and more like it can be found at
The CommonMan Commentaries